HOLYROOD — For only the second time in 11 years, an Ellsworth County school has been selected as a Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education.

Central Plains Elementary School in Holyrood is a Blue Ribbon School for 2020. Ellsworth Elementary School received the award in 2008.

Jane Oeser, CPES principal, said she was notified in November the school had received the award.

“I knew we were up for it,” she said.“We had to apply for it. So we kind of kept it a secret from the staff because you have to fill out the application. Once we knew we were awarded it, I broke the news to the staff.”

Central Plains Elementary was one of six schools in Kansas selected for the Blue Ribbon Award, but was the only one in the state selected for “Exemplary Achievement in Gap Closing.” The other five schools in Kansas — Clear Creek Elementary School in Shawnee, Corinth Elementary School in Shawnee Mission, Holy Rosary-Wea Catholic School in Bucyrus, Kathryn O’Loughlin McCarthy Elementary School in Hays and Lakewood Elementary School in Overland Park were selected for “Exemplary High Performance.”

Oeser said the closing the gap award is based on the school’s assessment scores.

“So whatever subgroup we might have, it’s closing the gap with those subgroups, to where everybody is closer together and there is not such a big gap between your highs and your lows,” she said.

Oeser described the award as “an awesome honor.”

“We haven’t been in existence a long time,” she said. “I keep saying we kind of came together from scratch, putting new staff together, deciding what programs we wanted to keep, what was best for students.”

“This is the highest achievement an elementary school can get,” said Kara Potter, CPES third grade teacher.“It’s a national award from Washington, D.C. that says we are an awesome school.”

Potter and Central Plains Elementary first grade teacher Amy Hurley accepted the award Nov. 13-14 during a banquet at the Gaylord Hotel on the National Harbor in Washington, D.C.

“I’m overwhelmed and speechless,” said Potter. “Amy and I had come off the stage and we had accepted the award and we just broke down in tears, it’s just so emotional.”

“I just felt so proud of us as a staff,” Hurley said.“That we did come together from not being together before. We just put all our heart and soul into helping these kids succeed.”

Hurley said everybody at CPES earned the award.

“I wished everybody could have been there,” she said.

Hurley said the students were excited to see the school be given the award. They watched as the awards ceremony was live-streamed directly to the classrooms.

“We try to make sure they know this was a big deal,” Hurley said. “They are just as much a part of this too. They work hard.”

“When you have dedicated staff that works their tails off day in and day out,” Oeser said.“They work all the time and they put in a lot of long hours. We are a family here at Central Plains Elementary, as a staff we are there for each other, whatever may be going on in our personal lives or our professional lives.”

Oeser also recognized the support of the families of staff and students in the effort.

“It takes all of us,” she said. “From the bus drivers who bring the kids to school to our custodians, secretaries, everybody working together. It’s the commitment of our families as well.”

Oeser said two things are the keys to success for Central Plains. The first is the relationships staff members have built with each other.

“It is phenomenal to walk through the door knowing that everyone in here has your back,” she said.

“We couldn’t do what we do with the kids if we didn’t have her (Oeser’s) support and her leniency on letting us choose what is best for this kid and how we think we need to teach this kid,” Potter said. “We have great support from Jane as well.”

Hurley said after teachers identify the needs of the students in the building, Oeser helps them get the resources or whatever they need to do their jobs.

Oeser said the staff at Central Plains meet the individual needs of their students.

“Whether it be glasses or whatever it may be, their basic needs have to be met before we can start teaching,” she said.

The second key to success for CPES is the rigor and the fidelity of the curriculum.

“When everybody is doing what they are supposed to be doing, implementing it when they are supposed to be implementing it, then great things happen,” Oeser said.

Oeser said relationships and the rigor and fidelity of the curriculum is what sets Central Plains Elementary School apart from other schools.

“If you feel good about yourself, going in and teaching or working in our building, then you’re going to do great things in the classroom,” she said.“When you know they have your back and are supporting you.”

“This is the place you want to be everyday,” Potter said. “You can’t imagine being anywhere else teaching. You know you’re in the right spot.”

Potter added a third key to success for Central Plains — class size.

“I think class size has a lot to do with it,” she said. “It’s better to be one-on-one with the kids. We have all this other para support and help we need.”

While at the awards banquet, Potter and Hurley networked with teachers from the other schools in Kansas and in the nation.

“It was nice to see those other Kansas schools,” Hurley said. “However, I still feel like we were a little bit in a class of our own because those other schools were larger. I think when we told people we had 200 students in our elementary school, they were shocked. Because they will have 200 students in a grade.”

When they told us they were small and they had 500 to 700 students, we’d say no you’re not small,” Potter added.

Oeser said each year there are different things that come up which the teachers want to expose the students to.

“We just keep doing what we are doing,” Potter added. “It’s working and we adapt. When new things come down the pike we adapt to it, we change and we do it.”

“And then we see great results,” Hurley added.